John from Cincinnati

Forward progress with Sammy? A Jungle Boy promo? Adam Page actually doing something? I'm clearly Tony's key demo. Y'all got any of them tables with locking wheels in Jacksonville? I was a little nervous there for Mox and Kenta, even with the ref steadying them.

Who's the largest person Kenny's had a one-on-one match against in AEW? Seeing him in there with Archer and recently with Moose made me realize it's probably been a while since he really had a go with a big fella. It took three people to get him up for the OWA. What kind of champion is that? Make the match!

Yeah, I saw those. Emma Caulfield is in the comments on Charisma's Instragram as well. And Nicholas Brendon liked one of the posts.

I know we've been through this with Joss a few times already, but is this the first time Sarah's publicly thrown him under the bus?

Looks like it's specifically movie characters What If-ing off of stuff that's already happened in the MCU. Lots of big actors/characters confirmed: Hemsworth, Boseman, Rudd, Ruffalo, Brolin, Michael B Jordan, Karen Gillan, Michael Douglas, and on down the list to Neal McDonough, who I completely forgot was even in one of these movies. Apparently Ironman, Strange, and Caps both America and Marvel will all be involved, but as of now the show's Wikipedia doesn't confirm any of those respective characters' actors' involvement.

The broad strokes of this have been known for years. IIRC, when she says "unceremoniously fired," she means nobody from the show told her she wasn't coming back for season five and she found out when someone in the press called. She then signed a contract to come back for one episode on the condition that they not kill off her character. Which they then did anyway. Joss is a real trash person.

I doubt Cody has the time to listen to ARN. You should probably warn him directly before it's too late.

After alternate timeline Loki, a show of animated hypotheticals sounds like a great point to dip out my sub. Maybe catch it later if anything sounds decent. But since phase four is getting weird, what are the chances stuff from What If? factors into the movies?

I'll go tell all the people in Raw threads in late 2013 and early 2014 that their joyless complaining about and non-enjoyment of Daniel Bryan's booking is against the spirit of the board. I know it seemed like approved behaviour because they were the majority. But they need to be scolded. Also, scolding people is apparently now fun. Weird how that happened, but here we are.

I think the earliest I saw it was during the build to Jericho-Tanahashi...? Might pre-date that. But it’s as far back as I go.

If we have this little trust in her ability to be led through an awkward moment by a more experienced worker, Lacey probably shouldn't be on TV much less potentially being groom for a feature match at Mania. I don't watch much, is she really that bad? Still think the vet not thinking on her feet is a bad look. But I won't litigate it past that. She had to make a quick real-time decision and she chose poorly in my estimation. Not the first time for her, but far from the worst choice she's made. I do wonder what effect a lack of regular touring house shows will have on people's instincts going forward.

Acclaimed Guy #2 acting like he properly beat MJF was good.

A washroom scene? Better include Cavill, king of the washroom fight.

Pre-1999: "More Star Wars movies would be cool." The world sees Jar Jar Binks: "No, not like that!"

The tl;dr was because you asked for one last time. Save yourself the eyestrain go watch Phantom Thread. You might like it!

Saw you mention watching this in the TV thread. I'm firmly in the camp that loves AoU, so WandaVision earning this a second hearing with some people is nothing but a positive in my book.

It's also just a better way to do most shows. When a streaming service drops a show and I watch it all over like a weekend, it slips from memory very quickly. Weekly is the best way to foster appreciation and make something stick longer. After x-number of years of streaming originals, I'm hopeful most people have come around to this way of thinking. Which isn't to say I don't binge. But it's not the way to release stuff.

I've talked to people who were considering cancelling their sub after WandaVision. I'm sure they're not the only ones. Keeping that momentum rolling is key. Disney's going to want to retain as much of this business as possible.

Maybe you don't understand, Goodear. The chocolate lady made a joke. That's fuuuuun. Don't you like fuuuuun? Why are you so unfuuuuuuun?

That doesn't make me angry at all. I agree completely. But that's like saying getting through cold weather next to a roaring fire with a good book and a cup of hot cholate is preferable to freezing to death buck nude in the wilderness. It's so clear what all of us reasonable people would find preferable that it almost goes without saying. I think all of use would rather be joyful than angry. I would also posit that this isn't an entertainment property that makes me feel angry. If I'm failing to express my thoughts in way that others feel is insufficiently joyful, I'd hate for those thoughts to be misinterpreted as anger. I have a few thoughts on the article you shared. It being fifteen+ years old, I won't hold you too firmly to any opinion or prognostication. ? But I do intend to tackle some of the examples you used, and tie in the way I view a couple contemporary figures in AEW. With due respect, I think there may be some bias in your categorization of what's in service of art and what's in service of business. While Brian Kendrick clearly loves wrestling, one could characterize his choice to leave WWE for the first time as a calculation that generating value elsewhere would be better for him in the long-run than treading water on the weekend C-shows in WWE (nowadays people have taken to describing this as "betting on yourself," very much a business decision). Eddie Guerrero's service on the indies may also read as a guy who's happy to help where he can with indie talent, but is just putting in reps while he waits to get called back to the show. And I think your characterization of Chris Benoit is way off, as he's a guy who never sacrificed his style to any large degree and remained a consistent producer of great matches till the end. I never saw him a guy who would "tone it down" or sacrifice his craft in any material way. Much of Benoit and Guerrero's best work to my eye took place in WWE later in their careers. To your credit, you did say a few times you were guessing. I just present alternative explanations. In actuality, I see the interests of art and business mixing constantly, and in ways that make it difficult to simply laud things we enjoy as being in service of art and dismiss things we don't enjoy (or enjoy less) as being cynically in service of business. Your willingness to reach for what were the "obvious examples" of wrestling artistry in 2005 WWE does call to attention the other side of that equation: What of the people who weren't "obvious examples" of the dichotomy you're trying to present? What of Triple H? He's easy to pigeonhole cynically as a political animal and an ambitious businessperson. And he's every bit of that. But he also spent 2005 paying off Evolution, having personal dream matches with Ric Flair and putting in masterful work trying to establish Batista as a franchise player going forward. Am I to take it that he took less artistic pride in that work than Bryan Danielson had in his own? Does he not love professional wrestling because he chooses to work in service of a certain system that runs counter to the tastes of a certain sect of wrestling fans? Because I don't see it that way, and I doubt you would either. I don't think he loves wrestling less because he doesn't choose to go the Spanky route and doesn't have the clout someone like Benoit once had with a subsection of fans. And I choose not to see him as someone whose artistic and business goals are misaligned, as you've presented latter-day Benoit and Guerrero. I see someone pursing what he sees the best of both. To why Benoit and Eddie wouldn't "just quit," I think the benefit of fifteen more years of wisdom and experience makes that evident. The goals of a life and a career can change, and it's really not our place to judge. For two guys who got to make the greatest amount of money sharing their creative space with peers they respected and who respected them in turn, who are we to say they were sacrificing their art? I don't think any less of Cesaro as an artist between the ropes for deciding WWE is the optimal place for him to pursue his personal, professional, and artistic goals. And if were to modernize this conversation, I see Cesaro as being a fairly appropriate analogue for the view you take of Benoit and Guerrero in your writing. I'm not saying that there aren't people who just hang in this for the money or prioritize it. But my overall sense of the distinctions you were making fifteen years ago is between art you like and art you don't like. And that's perfectly okay. But I'm personally not keen to extrapolate from that and pass easy judgement that some people don't prioritize their art. Looking at today's AEW, I think our image of these people is focused too much on the art and not enough on the business. I don't think Cody keeps track of the houses on every building he's worked since shortly after leaving WWE because he thinks of himself primarily as an artist. The Young Bucks don't hawk t-shirt so successfully because they've prioritized their art above their financial security. Forgive me for saying so, but I think more people meet the categorization of businesspeople and artist and find a way to prioritize both than your worldview and categorization allowed for in 2005. Just my $0.02.

Nope. Charlotte's responsible for not thinking on the fly and deciding the best course of action was to go deer in the headlights. I know it's a different age and a different craft and a different caliber of opponents under completely different circumstances, but seeing Ric standing there and thinking about his reputation for calling matches on the fly versus Charlotte's inability to handle someone blowing her spot is a stark contrast. If she were a ref and someone forgot to kick-out, Charlotte's instinct would probably be to pull up instead of count three. It's a good thing nobody's watching and nothing matters. But that doesn't mean it's incumbent on Charlotte to make her work look like shit just because Lacey decided to daydream in the middle of their match. Two wrongs don't make a right.

File another one under "Charlotte has zero instincts if her opponent doesn't do exactly what she expects." Good lord. Everyone lamenting there's not enough women's feuds outside the title picture shouldn't have wished on that monkey's paw.

Those aren't necessarily contradictory thoughts depending on the preferences of the person expressing them. Ordering something at a restaurant doesn't mean you're required to be satisfied by it. Wanting more Arrested Development after its initial run doesn't mean I want to watch any old garbage they serve up. Not that I subscribe those shallow strawman thoughts anyway. The EVPs should clearly be winning as often as possible, especially now that they have the straps. If they're supposed to be these big stars and the establishing bedrocks of this new promotion, I prefer to see them presented as strong as possible for the time being rather than treading water and pretending they're not clearly more important than the inaugural tag champs SCU. And outside of a couple weeks towards the end of 2019, the EVPs largely been presented as strong. And even then, they were shrewd enough to book the beginning of 2020 as a way of addressing that misstep by making an issue of it on TV and putting the Elite over strong. Of course if people want to relitigate takes from a year+ ago to score points, that's their business.

While I take your point, this isn't exactly what Technico was expressing. He said that the EVPs hadn't abused their powers and done things geared towards their own fun first and the fans' enjoyment last. It would be reasonable to say that in their conception of the promotion, seeing a bunch of the EVPs in prominent spots would be serving the fans first and foremost. Some of us would disagree, but I could see that case. Which of course is the same line that could be spun by any self-serving person who ever booked themselves on top. And yes, the appearance of "Well, we "put over" Private Party and waited a year, so to the moon!" is hilarious.

If that's the case, they'll stack multiple on top of one another in every seat.